Thanks to everyone who sent in entries, we had the most submissions since the banner contest that I held last year. And not only that, but they all were truly great. So, like last time, I had the toughest time narrowing down all of the entries to just two (yep, there are indeed two winners). Thankfully this time I had Chobineko here to help give another perspective on things.

After reading, looking at, and/or watching every entry, there was one that stood out even among so many great ones, for many reasons. First of all, I have to applaud this person for their brevity. It's all too easy to go on and on with something, but being able to get your point across in such a quick way is really impressive. So much that Chobi and I both had the exact same reaction when we first played the video: "Only 30 seconds? Really?"

But, 30 seconds was all that this person needed to show something really cute and original. I'm talking about Moon's video here:

That video is the reason why the two of us agreed that Moon deserves first place, no question.

Moving on, there were quite a few others that deserved second place (you guys truly impressed us, really!), but we had to pick just one. This person combined a really funny story with appropriate pictures that helped the story come to life. This person managed to make us both laugh from the story's humor and smile from the originality of it all. The person that I'm talking about is Monkey Pop! Moon and Monkey Pop definitely are the most original people to take part in an Airii~n deshou?! contest, I think. But, you can read her entry and draw your own conclusions (it's a bit long, but definitely worth the read).

In the studio of the TV show “idolove”.

Presenter: “Hey everyone! Are you ready? Today
is a special day for all of you, Idolovers! And especially for Morning Musume.
fans… Of course, I’m talking about Niigaki Risa and Mitsui Aika’s gradua…”

Girl: “Of course!” (to the crowd) “Everyone!
Don’t disturb the show but stay in the studio to put ambience!”

Presenter: “WHAAAAAT?!!!”

The crowd calms down and everyone sits on
spectators seats. The girl and the presenter are in the middle of the studio,
in front of cameras.

Presenter: “Hum… Well everyone! Excuse us for
this little… trouble! Let’s continue! Today with me, a fangirl, no, a lover, an
admirer of the wonderful Niigaki Risa!”
Audience: “GAKI-SAAAAAAAAAAAAN!”

Presenter (annoyed): “As you want… And here is… Monkey Pop!”

Monkey Pop: “It is me! Haha~ Hello everyone!
But please dude, those names don’t fit me… I’m just “a girl who loves and
supports Gaki-san with an admiration bigger than all known and unknown
universes.””

Presenter: “Sure, JUST that. Anyway… Can we
start this interview about your opinion regarding Niigaki Risa?”

Audience: “GAKI-SAAAAAAAAAAAAN!”

Presenter: “Gosh… Are they going to scream each
time I pronounce Niigaki Risa’s name?”

Presenter: “Hem hem… Act as if you didn’t see
anything, dear Idolovers… And now our fan interview about Niiga… Morning
Musume. 7th leader staaaaarts! Monkey Pop, what do you think about Niiga…
this girl’s place among all of Momusu.’s members?”

Monkey Pop: “Well… You don’t begin with a
question easy to answer!... You know, the group’s members have never really
been on an equal footing. I mean, you can compare “Morning Coffee” and “Renai
Hunter”, it will be the same: some girls are always just in front of the camera
while a big part of them stays in the back. Risa has been in the middle since
she joined. She has never been as popular as her generation-mate Ai-chan,
however she has been more than Makochii. However, to me, it’s not that which
determinates a member’s place, even if it’s important.

Presenter: “So what is it? What makes this girl
important – or not – within the group?

Monkey Pop: “Eeeeeeh guy! What is this “or
not”??! Of course she’s important! Every, each member has her importance and
her qualities! Excuse me if I’m not objective when listing Gaki-san’s
qualities, haha… Well, this girl is a goddess! She’s beautiful, funny, kind to
the others, has an angel’s voice, dances with talent… She loves Momusu. more
than everything in the world. And she loved it for a long time even before
entering it. She asserts she didn’t have any singing and dancing experience in
2001. She said it herself in her graduation memorial DVD: it’s her passion for
the band which made her chosen for the 5th generation. But Tsunku
surely saw in her something more than the crazy love she had for Morning
Musume. To my mind, she was, at that time, like a flower which was waiting to
bloom. Or a star still too small to shine strongly. I’m sure you agree with me,
man. You only have to look who she is now! A wonderful woman full of talent! The
flower has bloomed, the star shines powerfully. Have you ever heard her voice?”

Presenter: “Yeah… It’s really powerful.”

Monkey Pop: “True! And very deep too. She
surely has one of the best voices of Hello! Pro. And… during her last months in
the group, she was the last remaining one from Momusu. golden era. I mean if
you consider this period came to its end in 2001 and not 2000. She is also the
one with the longest tenure and one of the group’s leader, even though it was
her role for only few months. Ah, something else… She wanted to leave Morning
Musume. and Hello! Pro together with Ai-chan, but she accepted to stay a little
more in order to train and support 10th generation members. Isn’t it
the sign Gaki-san is a responsible person who thinks of the others before of
herself? To all this, add her funny character, for example as Reaction Queen; add
her great beauty, her deep eyes, her charm; add her expressive dancing and, we
have already said it, her singing full of feelings; add her limitless love for
Momusu. and fans. Well, how do you want someone like that not to be important?
Plus, her evolution is incredible: the little girl who thought she was not able
to sing and dance and be a real member of the group became this incredible and
loveable woman. Aah I’m gonna cry, haha.”

Presenter: “No, you are going to make ME cry!
We can feel you know very well Risa!”

Audience: “GAKI-SAAAAAAAAAAAAN!”

Presenter: “Oh wow, I had forgotten them. Well…
and what about you? What are your own feelings towards her? Her importance to
you?”

Monkey Pop: “Oh my God, I’m going to recite a
novel! So, let’s see… Gaki-san is certainly the idol I respect, admire and love
the most in the world. Really, this is not something I can doubt about. She has
that unique role in my existence, a so important role that no one could destroy
it. She lights up my everyday life and gives me this happiness that each person
who feels the same as me, no matter who their Risa is, knows. Well, I guess
Eripon agrees with me, hahaha. Actually, I don’t know what I’d be if Gaki-san
wasn’t here for me. Maybe someone without courage or determination. Or maybe
someone simply living her life and never thinking, not even one second, about
the things I am able to think about now. Really, I don’t know. The only thing I
am sure of is that my current life is better than all the other lives I could
have known if I didn’t had the chance to meet her. Yeah guy, I am sure of that.
With her by my side singing such meaningful songs, I have discovered what are
truly hope, friendship, love, fight, happiness…”

Presenter: “So, in one word, she…”

Monkey Pop: “She makes me happy. Finally,
that’s just that. She makes me happy and thanks to her, I have been able to
know what real life is when you live it deeply and move forward to reach your
dreams.”

Audience:
“GAKI-SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Presenter: “Aw, poor my ears… Really, we feel
your love. What you have just said is really beautiful. I think it’s a nice way
to finish the show… If you wanna let a video message to her, you can turn towards
the camera there and tell her whatever you want.”

Monkey Pop *turns*: “Yay! Gaki-san!
Congratulations on your graduation! Have you seen all this path you have walked
on for almost eleven years? I’m so proud of you. I’m so proud to tell the whole
world I love you. Thank you for everything! For your talent, for your smile, for
your love…. Gaki-san, you are the best! As you are here for me and for all of
us, I’ll be here for you, no matter how much kilometers we are separated by! Thank
you, thank you, thank you! I LOOOOVE YOOOOU!”

Presenter: “Haha, somehow it’s funny. So,
everyone! The show is coming to its end! We wish a nice continuation to both
Niigaki Risa and Mitsui Aika and we pray for their happiness and so on! Bye bye
dear Idoloveeeers!”

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Morning Musume performed half of their upcoming double A-side single on a fashion show today and we are able to see it thanks to a fanrecording.

Some people inevitability will express their dislike of this single due to it being a heavy Reina lead and/or due to the synthesized style of it, but I have no problem with either.

Reina is one of Morning Musume's best singers left and is also the most experienced (even moreso than Sayu because of Reina's experience singing lead a lot before) and in a group full of (albeit talented) preteens, she brings stability. Though I suppose it's not a particularly huge deal in a song like this where their voices are electronically edited, but still, future Musume songs will likely heavily feature Reina as well.

The style of song is quite different from what Morning Musume is used to releasing (for singles especially), but them being able to pull it off so well (and again, with a bunch of young members) gives me faith that even with most of its senpai members gone, Morning Musume will be fine moving forward. This song will take some getting used to for fans who don't like this type of music, but the other song on this single will surely be a completely different style.

Personally, I'm really enjoying Morning Musume right now. I definitely miss Risa, Aika (and of course Aichan), but Renai Hunter and now One two Three are both winners in my book. I didn't like Pyoko Pyoko Ultra as much, but I will admit that it was a nice genki and carefree song to ease the new members into the idol world, just as Maji desu ka ska! did with 9th gen before moving on to the awesomeness that was Only you.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

First let me start by thanking all of the following donators who completely paid for this Blu-ray concert by themselves (this is an Airiindeshou first; usually I have to chip in at least for the shipping!): NotC-UTE, Vix, ladylibra92, and Mozenator.

One of them will win this Blu-ray DVD (I will make a new post announcing the winner this week) and if you want to be in this position for a future release, read here about how you can take part in a DVD Donation Project!

I don't have the time to write a review for this (maybe later), so here are some screenshots (taken from the 720p version):

Monday, May 21, 2012

Some of you will recognize this video since I talked highly of it when it first aired. Now we've subtitled it!

If you didn't watch the raw, well basically, AKB member Sashihara Rino is a big H!P and Berryz Koubou fan and so she was really happy when Momoko, Chinami, and Yurina surprised her by randomly showing up to meet her.

They then took on Rino in a karaoke battle, which is what most of this appearance is about.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

It's contest time again! Of course I would like to give away something Aika related as well, but I really don't have anything of hers to give. So, this contest is all about Risa.

The winner will receive this:

Originally I planned to just give away the Gakisan graduation CD, but since I have one last copy of Aichan's to give away, I decided to include that too! The first place winner will get both!

IF (and only if) there is another person that Chobi and I deem worthy, that second place winner will be awarded a regular edition of Renai Hunter.

Theme:

I want you to capture Niigaki Risa's importance. You can interpret that however you want. For example, it can be about Risa's importance to Morning Musume, her importance to the idol world in general, or just her importance to you. What makes Risa special? That's what I want you to capture in your entry.

Rules:

- You can do whatever you want, whether it's a story, fanfic, essay, drawing, graphic, or anything.

This video features both Morning Musume and Fairies, so it was a natural choice to have TPF's first joint project with YouseiKiss (a Fairies fansubbing group)! You can check out their website here (and they are recruiting new members for their fansub group if you're interested): http://youseikiss.prophpbb.com/

This is part one of a three part TV special for Morning Musume and Fairies (yes, we'll be doing the others too). Because this is the first appearance, there is a lot of self-introduction stuff.

Besides that, Nakai-kun has a good time poking fun at the Morning Musume senpai members (and Yuko).

There are also live performances of Fairies' Beat Generation and Morning Musume's Renai Hunter (both of which are karaoke'd, thanks to YouseiKiss' aaasalvation!).

Part two of this is a lot more interesting since it's a full 20 minutes of talk and no introduction stuff, but this first appearance still has awesome moments.

Now some notes on the video: this TV show is heavy on captions and onscreen kanji and we've left a lot of it untranslated because most of it is literally the same was what is being spoken. Translating and typesetting that would really be a waste of effort. Any new information is fully translated and typeset, as seen here:

There are 3 main types of captions in this TV show: the speech bubble like in the bottom right (things that were already spoken), red text boxes like in the top right (random notes that staff added), and speech bubbles like in the top left (the current topic of discussion). This show loves to put the captions in all corners of the screen (and sometimes in other random places) so prepare to focus your attention in many different places.

Friday, May 18, 2012

The third and final video of our gradation subtitling special is the Reborn ~Inochi no Audition~ play!

I'm not normally a fan of plays and musicals, but this one is actually really interesting, especially to someone that is interested in history, like me. The story goes like this: each of the characters represents a person in history that is dead but is looking for a new life (Risa portrays France's Joan of Arc in the screenshot above).

Sayashi Riho plays the role of Shakespeare (English playwright),

Fukumura Mizuki plays Cleopatra (famous pharaoh of ancient Egypt and known for her beauty),

Together, those 11 people all share one goal: being reincarnated and starting fresh with a new life. To reach that goal, they are given basic details of the profiles of 10 people that will be born in the future (for example, "an artist that lives in the 1800s"). In order to gain that future person's trust (and live his life), each member has to appeal to it by explaining why they would be a good fit to take over that life and change the world in some way.

Since there are 11 people and only 10 new lives, of course that means that one person will perish forever, making it an intense battle to gain one of the new lives.

Fans of history will definitely get a kick out of this play, but even if that's not something that interests you, it's still interesting to see how each girl portrays an important historical figure. There is also a bit of humor here and there (especially with Reina's character) and a few songs a performed, making it an all around fun video to watch.